The Stanley Parable patch incoming to replace offensive images

Davey Wreden, the creator of Source mod come indie meta-’em-up The Stanley Parable has announced he intends to remove images some have called insensitive from the game. The images show a white businessman alternatively offering a black child a cigarette and setting him on fire, done in mock 50’s public service announcement art. Check them after the break.

The images appear as part of a sequence discussing the nature of choice, with the game’s narrator explaining that a man “could spend years helping improve the quality of life for citizens of impoverished third-world nations or he could systematically set fire to every orphan living within a thirty kilometer radius of his house”.

After author and journalist Oliver Campbell as well as a school teacher reached out to Wreden identifying the sequence as uncomfortable, Wreden announced he would have a patch ready in the next few weeks to alter the sequence.

“I’m not exactly married to the visual gag there, it doesn’t make or break anything about that particular section, and we always wanted the game to be something that could be played by anyone of any age. If a person would feel less comfortable showing the game to their children then I’ve got no problem helping fix that!” Wreden told Kotaku, referring to the school teacher’s dissapointment that image made the game unsuitable for her students.

The Stanley Parable HD Remix released last week on Steam and has been near the top of its charts ever since, while the original mod is now several years old.